Patung Liberty

Kalau dengar patung liberty.. pasti yang kebayang patung yang di New York City. Padahal di dunia ini ada banyak (replika) patung liberty lho termasuk di Banjarnegara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicas_of_the_Statue_of_Liberty

Saya sendiri sudah mengunjungi 3 diantaranya :

1. Yang pertama, ketika training dari kantor ke Tokyo. Saya mengunjungi patung liberty di Odaiba bersama teman-teman saya

 

2. Yang kedua, ketika di Paris dalam rangka menunggu flight ke Tangier, Maroko. Iseng-iseng mengunjungi patung liberty "kembaran" patung yang asli. Patung ini tidak terlalu dikenal masyarakat. Terbukti dengan sepinya pengunjung ketika saya kesana padahal letaknya tidak terlalu jauh dari menara Eiffel. Yang mengunjungi hanya Parisian lokal yang lari sore/ ajak jalan-jalan anjing/ skateboarding-an

3. Yang ketiga, patung Liberty aslinya. Saya mengunjungi patung ini di hari pertama tahun 2018 dan hari itu merupakan hari terdingin yang pernah saya rasakan (bisa dilihat dari muka saya yang kedinginan di foto bawah) karena pada saat itu kebetulan ada anomali cuaca di Amerika Utara yang mengakibatkan cuaca dingin luar binasa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017%E2%80%9318_North_American_cold_wave .Saya sendiri meninggalkan negara tersebut malam harinya lewat bandara JFK dan benar saja, beberapa hari kemudian bandara tersebut ditutup selama beberapa hari akibat badai salju

Geret-geret Koper Seharian di LA

September 2018 saya mengunjungi Meksiko dalam rangka pulang ke Indonesia dari Eropa (gak usah ditanya kenapa dari Eropa ke Indonesia lewat Meksiko >.<). Namun, tiket ke Indonesia jika dari Meksiko (dan negara Amerika Latin pada umumnya) biasanya mahal-mahal. Jadi, saya akali dengan pulang lewat pantai barat Amerika Serikat. Jadilah tiket pulang saya rutenya San Francisco-Jakarta dengan transit di Hong Kong dan Singapura.


Rute saya dari Meksiko ke San Francisco, garis merah jalur udara, dan garis biru jalur darat (bus)

Dalam perjalanan ke San Francisco, saya mampir sehari di kota Los Angeles, berhubung LA merupakan kota terbesar kedua di AS setelah New York yang sayang kalau dilewatkan begitu saja. Jadi Sabtu pagi saya naik bus dari Tijuana, tiba di LA Sabtu siang dan berangkat lagi dari LA ke San Francisco Sabtu malamnya jam 10, jadi saya ada waktu untuk explore LA.

Saya tiba di terminal bus khusus bus Greyhound (nama perusahaan busnya) dan tidak jauh dari pusat kota LA

Darisana ke pusat kota, saya naik bus bertarif (saya lupa berapa) yang saya ingat sopir busnya tidak bisa memberikan kembalian kalau kita bayar menggunakan uang cash. Untungnya saya bawa uang kecil (walaupun tidak pas). Setibanya di pusat kota saya langsung makan siang di The Halal Guys di 7th street.

The Halal Guys menjadi tempat makan favorit saya ketika melancong di Amerika Serikat. Selain karena halal dan tidak mahal, makanannya juga enak dan mengenyangkan walaupun kurang variatif. Sehingga Halal guys menjadi comfort food saya di AS (kalau bingung makan apa, halal guys aja biar aman & bebas kecewa). Menu favorit saya disana combo platters yang isinya nasi ditimpa sayur mayur, ayam, daging sapi, saus putih (yang legendaris dan khas the halal guys), sama satu lagi roti gepeng entah apa namanya.

Setelah kenyang makan siang, saya menuju stasiun metro terdekat untuk mulai mengeksplorasi Los Angeles. Saya beli kartu transport yang bisa dipakai sepuasnya selama 1 hari seharga 7 dolar AS. Harga segitu sebenarnya cukup murah untuk standar Ameria Serikat. Sebelum datang ke LA, image LA yang melekat di pikiran saya adalah transportasi publiknya sulit dan tidak bisa diandalkan karena hampir semua manusianya menggunakan mobil pribadi untuk bepergian. Namun ternyata saya salah, paling tidak jika tidak terlalu jauh dari pusat kota dan masih di kota Los Angelesnya (bukan di kota pinggirannya), transportasi publik massal sangat mudah, frekuensinya sering, dan cukup bisa diandalkan (bus, metro, dll).

Destinasi pertama saya yaitu Hollywood Boulevard yang bisa dibilang salah satu pusat entertainmentnya AS. Saya kesana dari pusat kota dengan naik metro line merah turun di stasiun Hollywood/Vine. Oiya, saya bepergian kesana dengan membawa koper dan karena saya tidak menginap di LA, tidak bisa saya taruh di tempat penginapan. Sebenarnya saya lebih suka ransel dibandingkan koper, namun berhubung perjalanan saya merupakan perjalanan pulang ke tanah air dari kuliah selama 2 tahun, jadi bawaan saya banyak walaupun koper saya tidak terlalu besar (koper saya yang besar sudah sampai tanah air duluan). Malangnya, di AS tidak bisa ditemukan tempat penginapan koper atau tas di tempat umum seperti stasiun atau terminal sehingga saya terpaxa membawa koper selama di Los Angeles. Sebnarnya ada jasa penitipan (semacam airbnb untuk koper) namun ribet dan mahal.

Hollywood Boulevard

Hollywood boulevard ini terkenal dengan walk of fame nya, yang ribuan keramik bergambar bintang bertuliskan nama2 orang (real maupun fiksi) yang punya sumbangsih besar di dunia entertainment, termasuk Donald Trump. Disana saya sempat ke LINE store (yang antrian masuknya aja panjang bgt) dan beli sedikit oleh2 buat orang-orang rumah. Toko souvenir pun banyak berjajar di sepanjang boulevard. Setelah puas menyusuri Hollywood boulevard dibawah panasnya terik matahari California, saya melanjutkan perjalanan.

Destinasi berikutnya yaitu masjid berhubung sudah mau masuk waktu Ashar tapi Zuhurpun saya belum sholat. Masjid yang saya tuju waktu itu yakni Islamic Center of Southern California, dekat stasiun Wilshire/Vermont. Yang saya suka dari Masjid-masjid di Amerika Serikat yaitu bangunan-bangunannya layak disebut masjid, tidak seperti ehm benua sebrangnya (yes, I'm referring to you, Europe) yang kebanyakan masjid tidak terlihat seperti masjid kalau dari luar. Oiya di AS ini tiap masjid (at least masjid yang saya kunjungi) ada penjaganya dari kepolisian satu orang. Karena saya bawa koper dan wajah saya tidak terlihat seperti typical Muslim di AS, saya sempat disuruh buka isi koper hahaha tapi polisinya baik kok, dan justru memberikan rasa aman

Islamic Center of So-Cal

Setelah sholat, rencana saya ke Santa Monica dengan naik kereta bawah tanah ke pusat kota, kemudian ganti line. Tapi ternyata di dekat stasiun Wilshire/Vermont saya melihat ada bus yang langsung menuju Santa Monica. Wah tanpa pikir panjang langsung saya naik ke bus tersebut yang kemudian langusng jalan menuju Santa Monica. Yang saya suka dari naik bus adalah saya bisa melihat pemandangan kota, kan gak bisa kalau naik kereta bawah tanah. Perjalanan bus ditempuh selama hampir satu jam dan kebetulan trayek bus yang saya naiki melewati Koreatown (yang tidak sekorea yang saya kira sebelumnya) dan juga Beverly Hills.

Di Santa Monica ada apa memangnya?

Di Santa Monica ini auranya lebih santai dibanding pusat kota LA (hitungannya sudah bukan masuk LA, tapi kota yang berbeda). Saya sengaja kesini untuk nikmatin suasana a la pantai California. Sebenarnya tempat yang paling terkenal di Santa Monica yaitu pier-nya. Tapi saya tidak sempat kesana karena report bawa-bawa koper lagian juga waktu itu sendirian jadi kurang asik dan saya cuma pengen nikmatin suasananya.

Santa Monica pier

Di Santa Monica sampai sunset yang bagusnya keterlaluan. Sambil ngeliatin sunset saya sambil ngobrol2 sama orang Brazil sekalian pamer kalau saya bisa bahasa mereka wkwk

Setelah puas nikmati sunset, saya kembali ke 7th street untuk makan di The Halal Guys lagi (kebetulan kalau mau kembali ke terminal bus, musti ke 7th street dulu). Perjalanan dari Santa Monica ke 7th street saya tempuh dengan tram, di tengah perjalanan saya ada lihat masjid lumayan besar jadi mampir sholat dulu disitu. Setelah sholat, makan di THG, sayapun kembali ke terminal bus untuk melanjutkan petualangan saya ke San Francisco

Tidur di Bandara

Saya bisa dibilang seorang expert dalam hal tidur di bandara karena sudah banyak bandara yang saya tiduri. Tidur dalam artian bukan cuma ketiduran sejam dua jam, tapi bermalam dari larut malam sampai pagi. Alasan utamanya biasanya supaya bisa hemat gak perlu keluar biaya ekstra untuk akomodasi, maklum kismin. Alasan lainnya untuk ngejar flight terlalu pagi atau ketika sampe di flight larut malam dan udah gak ada transport massal umum (saya pantang naik taksi di luar negeri kecuali kalo dibayarin kantor)

Bandara-bandara yang sudah pernah saya tiduri (sesuai kronologis):

1. Bandara Changi, Singapura

Ini waktu tahun 2012, traveling sama ibu saya ke KL dan Singapura. Tadinya ke KL niat naik kereta malam ke Singapura namun kehabisan tiket jadi terpaxa naik pesawat AirAsia. Penerbangannyapun bentar karena deket dan nyampe Singapura lewat tengah malam MRT udah gak ada. Jadi tidur di badnara dan sempat dibangunin petugas keamanan, yg penting nunjukkin tiket/boarding pass dna paspor kita aman kok bisa tidur lagi dengan nyenyak

2. Bandara Shota Rustaveli, Tbilisi, Georgia

Ini waktu tahun 2016, lagi-lagi traveling sama ibu saya terbang dari Istanbul ke Tbilisi dan jam nya super gaenak. Take off larut malam dan nyampe jam 1-an jadi tidur di bandara. Kami tidur di rumput buatan di bawah eskalator dan ternyata buaaanyak yg juga tidur disana hehehe tapi kereta ke pusat kota baru ada jam 8 kurang & udah bosan nunggu jadi terpaksa naik taksi sekitar jam 6an paling nggak sudah tidak gelap

3. Bandara Zaventem, Brussels, Belgia

Ini waktu saya masih mahasiswa di Belgia, traveling ke Milan naik ryanair bareng teman saya orang Filipin. Flight baliknya nyampe larut malam dan sudah tidak ada kereta ke kota tempat tinggal saya jadi terpaksa tidur di bandara sampai pagi. Kebetulan ada sofa-sofa di area kedatangan dan banyak juga yang tidur di situ

4. Bandara Fiumicino, Roma, Italia

Ini waktu kuliah di Belgia juga, jalan-jalan weekend ke Roma dan flight balik ke Belgia pagi-pagi banget jadi paginya nginap di bandara

5. Bandara El Prat, Barcelona, Spanyol

Sama seperti di kejadian diatas, untuk ngejar flight pagi. disini saya mau apresiasi kursi di ruang tunggu terminal 2 yang gak ada armrestnya jadi sangat nyaman buat dipake tidur

6. Bandara Costa del Sol, Malaga, Spanyol

Ini waktu terbang dari Malaga ke Praha bulan Januari 2018. Sebenarnaya tujuan akhirnya Jerman, waktu itu untuk winter business school dan saya baru selesai liburan di Andalusia (Spanyol Selatan). Flight ke Praha jam 7 pagi jadi mendingan nginap di bandara

7. Bandara Tegel, Berlin, Jerman

Nah ini yang waktu itu lumayan bikin nyesek. Jadi harusnya saya terbang dari Bandara Berlin Schoenefeld ke London pada suatu siang di bulan Januari 2018, tapi saya ditolak boarding sodara-sodara, alasannya saya tidak punya visa Inggris (padahal saya tidak perlu waktu itu). Tiket sayapun hangus dan saya nekat beli tiket baru dari bandara lain di Berlin (Bandara Tegel) dan dari maskapai lain. Tapi tiketnya berangkat keesokan harinya pagi-pagi jam 7. Sehari sebelum keberangkatan (hari saya ditolak boarding) saya cuma muter-muter Berlin sendirian gak jelas, ogah ngeluarin duit buat nginep dan malemnya ke bandara untuk bermalam karena flightnya juga jam 7 pagi, kalo nginep di tempat lain takutnya ketinggalan. Akhirnya happy ending kok, saya bisa terbang ke London tanpa visa

8. Bandara Benito Juarez, Mexico City

Jadi ini sebenarnya saya terbang dari Merida ke Tijuana, di Mexico City transit doang. Tapi berhubung saya pengen sekalian eksplor Mexico City, saya pilih yang waktu transitnya lama. Dari Merida ke Mexico City pagi buta, terbang lanjutan ke Tijuana nya besok paginya, jadi malam diantaranya saya tidur di bandara Mexico city. Diantara bandara-bandara yang saya ceritakan ini, ini badnara yang paling gaenak untuk tidur. Gak ad akursinya sebelum check-in, jadi saya tidur di lantai sembari jagain hp yang di charge. Pegal-pegal nan tidak nyenyak tidurnya. Untung abis itu flight lumayan lama (4 jam) jadi sepanjang penerbangan tidur doang

Retrospective 2018

For me, 2018 has been... something

I wouldn't say that was the happiest or most successful year of my life so far as there were disappointments, incidents, and failures

But there were definitely a lot of things to be grateful of, some valuable lessons I've taken, and some of my dreams came true in 2018!

So I was thinking maybe 2018 is worth to recount here in my blog (pardon my simple English, it usually takes me ages to produce a well-written writing in English) so I can look back at 2018 in the far future and cekikikan melihat kepahitan hidup gue di masa lalu (I still do that to my 10-year-old posts here on my blog! haha)

My 2018 began here :

No, just kidding, I couldn't stand the crowd and cold so I was sleeping in my rented airbnb room when the calendar changed. Yeah, I was in the city I had dreamt to visit at the first day of 2018. It may sound childish or too mainstream to have such dream lol

Last semester of my master

Okay so as some of you might know, I was finishing my master degree in France during the first half of 2018. I already planned my 2018 onward back in 2017 when I chose my thesis topic. However, I had to rethink about that plan (and eventually changed it) after getting through a couple of #$%@)#^# stuffs during this time and I considered that as a failure since that exactly what I prayed so hard for back in 2017. Do I regret? No, I don't and I don't need to be forthright about that particular topic here but I'd say I had learnt a lot during this roller-coaster-like time (not necessarily about my thesis experience, though)

Some of my highlights during this period:

Unusually cold winter. It even snowed in April

Hiking by the sea

More hiking. It keeps my sanity

I paid a short surprise visit to my mom and sisters in Depok
 all the way from France. My mom's reaction was priceless

Celebrating France's victory in 2018 world cup

First time doing Eid Fitr prayer not in Alun-alun kota Sukabumi

Dreams achieved

I eventually got my master degree after 2 years of studying in Europe (my upmost thanks to European taxpayers). When I look back to 2 years ago, I made a hard decision to change my course of life by applying for this program and I'm really grateful for this. Apart from allowing me to achieve my dream to study abroad, it allowed me to become a better person (professionally and in general), to see the world and to meet tons of amazing people.

My parents and one of my sisters had a chance to attend my graduation ceremony in Belgium. We also visited 6 other European countries (I was the guide for the whole trip). Don't get me wrong, we're not rich. I know well how my parents saved money for this trip and I was struggling formulating an economical itinerary without sacrificing to much comfort for my parents. We didn't use taxi at all as European taxis are too expensive for ordinary Indonesians (we used mass public transport all the time), we booked our flight and hotel way in advance to get the best price, and we mostly visit free attractions (with some exceptions). I traveled a lot while being in Europe and I always wanted my family to experience the same :)

So after I officially graduated, I decided to go home and work in my home country rather than extending my visa to find work there. Not that I didn't want to work there, I was just thinking there're much more opportunities to work in the field that has to do with my degree in my home country. I didn't want my journey home to be an ordinary journey, so tried to check my another bucket list item:

I came to Europe from the east and I went back to Indonesia westward, so I technically did a round-the-world trip through the Atlantic, Mexico, the US, the Pacific, and eventually Asia albeit it involved only a few countries.

First time visiting Latin America ^^

A short trip to end my 2018

So what's for 2019?

I'm looking forward to starting my new job this January 2019. It's finally something strongly related to my degree (both my undergraduate and my master one). I know well how it feels to be a worthless piece of meat when my job has nothing to do with my degree and I'm not so into it. I'll just dedicate the whole 2019 to focus on my career, I guess

I'll try to spend less time in social media and do more writing on my blog as well as my quora account to develop some skills that writing can help to develop as well as to practice my language skill

Speaking of travel (you know I can be crazy when it comes to traveling), I visited 12 countries in 2018 (but only two new countries, though) which means way less than I did in 2017. By the way, I failed to reach my targeted number of countries visited in 2018. I guess I'm just too old and I've reached that age when I'm not as adventurous as when I was before. I'm not planning any trip for 2019 (not that I don't want to travel anymore, but I don't think it's possible due to my new job). But I'll definitely roam again somewhere (with whom? who knows) in 2020

Menjadi Pemandu Wisata di Eropa (part I)

Prolog

Akhir Agustus hingga awal September 2018 kemarin, orang tua saya dan salah satu adik saya sempat mengunjungi saya di Eropa ketika saya hampir selesai studi disana. Sebenarnya tujuan utamanya adalah menghadiri wisuda saya yang diselenggarakan akhir Agustus 2018 di Belgia, tapi sekalian tamasya, berhubung ayah dan adik saya belum pernah ke Eropa pada waktu itu. Saya juga sekalian istilahnya farewell trip berhubung setelah lulus dan pulang ke tanah air, belum tau kapan lagi bisa ke Eropa hehe.

Tiket

Rencanakan trip ini sudah dari jauh-jauh hari, berhubung WNI kalau ingin berkunjung ke Uni Eropa memerlukan visa dan banyak perintilan yang musti diurus untuk visa schengen. Salah satu syarat apply visa schengen adalah tiket pulang pergi. Kalau visa takut di-reject padahal sudah beli tiket, sebenarnya bisa diakali dengan membuat dummy booking. Tapi berhubung kami gak mau nunda-nunda beli tiket (keburu mahal) dan kami cukup optimis visa bakal dikabulkan, jadi memutuskan beli tiket as soon as ada yang murah. Mencari tiket untuk 3 orang (ibu, ayah, dan adik saya) sudah dilakukan sekitar 5 bulan sebelum perjalanan.

Nah, ini bagian yang agak tricky berhubung Eropa luas, sebelum beli tiket harus dipikirkan baik-baik mau masuk dan keluar dari negara mana. Nah untuk kasus kami, negara mana yang dikunjungi tergantung tiket yang murah nya bagaimana. Salah satu trik mencari tiket murah adalah cari tiket yang open jaw, dalam artian bukan tiket PP yang sesederhana PP dari kota A ke kota B. Tapi misalnya berangkat dari kota A ke B tapi pulangnya ke kota C ke A. Selain karena seringkali lebih murah, lebih hemat juga dari segi transport lokal karena di Eropa gak perlu balik lagi ke kota yang sama untuk flight pulang ke tanah airnya.

Kombinasi tiket termurah yang kami temukan yakni berangkatnya Jakarta-Wina dan pulangnya Paris-Jakarta menggunakan maskapai Thai Airways seharga kurang dari 10 juta pp per orangnya. Sebenarnya hitungan 'sangat murah' untuk tiket ke Eropa yaitu sekitar 6 juta pp. Tapi berhubung waktu trip kami hitungannya masih musim panas dan liburan dimana banyak turis yang bepergian (baik turis Eropa ke Asia Tenggara maupun turis Indonesia ke Eropa), harga segitu termasuk oke lah

Itinerary

Nah, setelah beli tiket, saatnya susun itinerary juga untuk keperluan visa. Sebenernya bisa aja asal bikin itinerary sementara buat apply visa terus pas eksekusi perjalanan itinerarynya gak sesuai. Tapi berhubung itinerary melibatkan transport lokal dan tiket transport selama di Eropa lebih baik dibeli jauh-jauh hari, kami mem-fixed-kan itinerary tidak lama setelah beli tiket. Negara-negara yang kami kunjungi selama 9 hari disana beserta alasannya:

1. Austria, Ceko, dan Slovakia

Karena tiket yang murah tiba di Wina/Vienna (ibukota Austria) dan saya ingin mereka juga kunjungi negara-negara bekas komunis dibalik tirai besi pada zamannya yang tidak jauh dari Wina, biar gak cuma negara-negara mainstream Eropa barat yang biasa dikunjungi turis Indonesia

2. Belgia

Ini sih berhubung wisudanya di kota Liege, Belgia. Jadi 2 malam di Belgia

3. Italia

Ibu saya ingin ke Italia (beliau udah pernah ke Eropa sebelumnya, tapi Italia belum), dan juga banyak tiket murah dari Belgia ke beberapa kota di Italia (Roma atau Milan)

4. Paris, Prancis

Walaupun agak mainstream, sayang donk ke Eropa gak ke Paris. Tiket pulangnya juga dari Paris, jadi kami rencanakan 3 malam di Paris. Oiya kami sengaja agak lama di Paris supaya apply visanya bisa visa Prancis (katanya untuk turis Indonesia, visa Prancis relatif lebih mudah walaupun gak semudah Belanda) sumber : https://travel.kompas.com/read/2016/04/07/150400127/Wisata.ke.Perancis.Aplikasi.Visa.bagi.Turis.Indonesia.Dipermudah

Untuk Belanda kami skip walaupun cukup populer dikalangan turis Indonesia, karena saya pribadi kurang tertarik dengan Amsterdam atau kincir Zaanse Schaans yang overrated (saya sendiri belum pernah kesana) dan ibu saya sebelumnya sudah pernah

Hari 1 : Kedatangan di Wina*

*numpang curhat dikit. bahasa Indonesianya Wina, bahasa Inggrisnya Vienna. Tapi saya suka gatel kalo ada orang Indonesia yang nyebut/nulis Vienna padahal lagi nulis/ngomong bahasa Indonesia. Wina cuma 4 huruf, ngapain buang energi untuk nulis 6 huruf?? lidah Indonesia juga memerlukan energi lebih untuk mengucapkan fonem V. Bahasa setempatnyapun Wien, bukan Vienna dan Austria bukan negara berbahasa Inggris. Jadi.. mari mengucap dan menulis Wina

Orang tua dan adik saya dijadwalkan tiba di bandara Wina tanggal 25 Agustus pukul 7 pagi sedangkan saya pada saat itu tinggal di Nancy, Prancis timur. Jadi tanggal 24 nya saya sudah harus enyah dari Nancy. Setelah packing, saya naik bus malam ke Wina dengan membawa 1 buah koper. Berhubung Nancy merupakan kota yang tidak terlalu besar, saya harus ke kota besar terdekat yakni Strasbourg untuk naik bus malam ke Wina. Rute busnya Paris ke Budapest, tapi melewati Strasbourg dan Wina.

Oiya selama di Strasbourg sambil nunggu bus sempat bingung ngapain, akhirnya melakukan 2 hal:

1. Bayar utang ke tukang kebab. Beberapa bulan sebelumnya waktu pulang ke tanah air lewat Strasbourg, sempat makan di toko kebab tapi ga bayar karena kartu saya tidak berfungsi, tidak nemu ATM yang dekat, dan buru-buru ngejar bus ke bandara. Jadi abangnya mengikhlaskan. Tapi saya gaenak dong berhutang, jadi mumpung di Strasbourg lagi bayar deh

2. Kalo liat di peta, Strasbourg deket banget sama Jerman (hanya dipisahkan sungai Rhein). Kebetulan dari Strasbourg naik tram lokal bisa ke kota Kehl di Jerman. Jadi saya iseng ke Jerman, tadinya ga ada niat ngapa2in, nginjek tanah Jerman aja abis tu balik lagi. Tapi sesampainya di Kehl, saya bisa lihat menara dan kubah masjid di balik stasiun. Padahal jarang lho di Eropa masjid berkubah dan berminaret sebagaimana masjid normal. Kalopun ada, biasanya agak jauh dari pusat kota. Sayapun sekalian sholat maghrib dan isya disana

Peta tram Strasbourg, di sebelah timur di sebrang sungai udah Jerman

Bus saya dijadwalkan tiba di terminal bus Wina pukul 8 pagi, tapi agak telat sekitar setengah jam nyampenya. Setibanya di Terminal bus Erdberg, saya langsung ke bandara menggunakan U-Bahn sambung dengan S-Bahn. Di sana ayah, ibu, dan adik saya sudah menunggu di depan McD. Langsung saja kami menuju stasiun Mitte untuk menaruh koper kami disana.

Oiya, yang saya suka dari kota-kota di Eropa (dan tidak bisa ditemukan di kota-kota di AS) adalah kemudahan menitipkan koper di stasiun. Jadi sangat memudahkan ketika ingin berkeliling kota namun tidak menginap di kota tersebut. Kebetulan kami menginapnya tidak di Wina, tapi di Bratislava, Slovakia yang hanya 1 jam perjalanan menggunakan kereta dari Wina.

Selepas menitipkan koper, destinasi pertama kami ialah istana Schonbrunn. Oiya, selama di Eropa kami selalu menggunakan transportasi massal umum memanfaatkan infrastruktur trasnportasi yang cukup bisa diandalkan (gak pake taksi apalagi sewa mobil)

Kebetulan kami tidak masuk ke istananya, hanya menjelajah tamannya saja. Pertama karena bayar lagi kalau mau masuk istana (tamannya saja gratis) dan kedua karena waktu kami tidak terlalu banyak

Destinasi kedua kami yaitu pusat kota Wina. Oiya, selama di Wina kami murni pakai transportasi umum publik, U-Bahn dan S-Bahn

Suasana pusat kotanya kurang lebih seperti ini (sumber: google)

Kami sempat mengalami scam yang tidak mengenakkan (mana ada scam yang enak). Ada beberapa orang Gypsy sok ramah berusaha ngasih-ngasih bunga, untuk kemudian minta duit dengan dalih kita beli bunga mereka. Kalo keukeuh gak mau bayar ntar dicubit (kayak saya)

Kami makan siang di sebuah restoran Turki yang masih di area pedestrian kota tua, sengaja karena saya ingin memperkenalkan ke keluarga saya kuliner turki yang cukup populer dan digandrungi di Eropa hehe

Setelah puas berkeliling di pusat kota, kami kembali ke stasiun Mitte untuk mengambil koper untuk kemudian melanjutkan perjalanan ke Bratislava, ibukota Slovakia, menggunakan kereta dari stasiun Central. Perjalanan ke Bratislava ditempuh hanya sekitar 1 jam. Sengaja ke apartemen yang kami sewa di Bratislavanya gak terlalu sore biar bisa sholat di sana dan bisa lebih lama istirahat, berhubung nyampe dari penerbangan jauh langsung jalan-jalan.

Kalo ditanya, ngapain ke Slovakia? 1. Karena gak jauh dari Wina dan penginapannya jauh lebih murah. 2. Biar gak melulu Eropa barat, sekali-kali Eropa yang agak 'kumuh' dikit bekas komunis. Oiya, karena perjalanan kami ke slovakia dari Austria menembus yang dulunya tirai besi (batas blok barat dan blok timur), terlihat sekali perbedaan mencolok antara Austria dan Slovakia. Stasiun Wina serba mewah dan futuristik sedangkan stasiun Bratislava lebih mirip terminal bus

Di depan tram Bratislava

Sampe apartemen langsung tepar hehe kebetulan apartemen yang kami sewa lumayan nyaman, bisa untuk berlima (kami berempat), kamar mandi, dapur, TV, dll semua lengkap. Btw, mbak2 yang punya apartemen ternyata wakil Slovakia di Miss Universe beberapa tahun lalu. Ybs gak bilang sih, tapi saya bisa tahu dr kontak yg diberikan.

Di Slovakia hanya semalam, dan sebagian besar dihabiskan untuk istirahat karena orang tua dan adik saya malam sebelumnya tidur di pesawat dan saya tidur di bus. Keesokan paginya kami ke stasiun untuk melanjutkan perjalanan kami ke Praha. Kereta kami jam 8 pagi dan sempat ada insiden ketika keluar apartemen. Kami memutuskan meninggalkan kunci di dalam apartemen dan ternyata untuk keluar gedungnya butuh kunci, walhasil kami sempat panik mana si Miss Slovakia ditelfon ga ngangkat2 (pagi2 baru pulang party mungkin, maklum minggu pagi). Untungnya ada penghuni lain yg keluar juga jadi kami terselamatkan dan kami berhasil mengejar kereta ke Praha

Hari 2 : Praha

Perjalanan dari Bratislava ke Praha sekitar 4 jam dan kebetulan seat kami di kereta yang berempat 1 meja jadi enak. Sampai stasiun Praha sekitar tengah hari dan kami langsung menitipkan koper, karena di Praha tidak berencana menginap. Setelah itu makan siang di suatu rumah makan timur tengah tidak jauh dari stasiun. Di dekat sana juga ada masjid, jadi sekalian shalat. Ada masjid di tengah kota dekat stasiun merupakan sesuatu yang jarang lho di Eropa, apalagi di Republik Ceko yang notabene bekas komunis.

Tempat-tempat yang kami kunjungi selama di Praha diantaranya:

Wenceslas Square

Market Square

Pinggir Sungai Vltava dekat Jembatan Charles

Kebetulan di kota ini kami banyak jalan, dari stasiun ke Wenceslas Square, ke Market Square, trus ke Jembatan Charles, balik lagi ke Market Square kami jalan kaki kebetulan karena kotanya indah jadi gak bikin capek kalo jalan kaki. Kami total cuma punya 6 jam di Praha, jadi setelah (tidak) puas menjelajah Praha, kami langsung menuju terminal bus untuk menaiki bus malam menuju Belgia

(BERSAMBUNG...)

How to Learn a Language Like a Kid Learns His/Her Native Language ::

I guess this is the very first post about a hopefully-useful tip in my blog, since most of my posts narrates about my experiences (which maybe considered not-so-interesting by some people)

well, I'm a language freak since I was in elementary school. I love to learn foreign languages and I use several common methods from cramming a grammar book to speaking with native speaker. Not only common methods but also some self-discovered methods. Actually I have no idea about whether someone out there has already used this method or not (most probably yes). But the important thing is that I find this method really works!

We all already know how we learn our native language when we were toddlers. We didn't study the grammar through the books, right? Instead, we learned grammar and all other aspects through repetitively practising with people around us (especially our parents and siblings), and then getting corrected right after we made mistake (if we made any). And the method I'll describe here is quite similar with how children learn their native language

so... How?

Supposed you're already familiar with language X which may be your native language (It doesn't matter if it's not as long as you can understand it well) and you wish to learn or practice language Y which is your target language. First thing you should do is to find a film/ episode of series which is available language X and language Y dub. So you'll have 2 videos of an exactly same film/episode but with different dubbing (in X and Y). For example, you already know English and you want to learn French and use this video for english


and this video for French 1. After downloading them (you can do streaming instead of downloading, but my suggestion is to download), open both videos at the same time with 2 different media players.

2. Play the X language version first just for 1 or 2 sentences, then pause for a while.

3. While the X language video is paused, try to guess how would the same character say the same thing in Y language. You can use dictionary or translator to get some help figuring out the word you haven't known yet

4. Try to pronounce your guess clearly (don't speak only in your mind, involve your lips, tongue, and vocal cords as well)

5. Play the Y language video to find out whether you are right or wrong about your guess you've just made. Stop before the video reaches the scene you haven't seen in X language video (so you can get immediate corrections if you make any mistake)

6. Replay the paused X language video to make another guess and so on

Yes I know perfectly this is such a time consuming and tiring effort. Once I've tried to finish up a movie whose duration of about two hours and this method lasts about 6 hours non-stop. But if you do this regularly (several times weekly for example) eventhough it's only couple of minutes for one try, I'm quite sure you'll start thinking in Y language in several months :)

I don't recommend this for those who are completely newbie in Y language. So, at least you have to know a number of words and expressions as well as basic grammar rules. But don't worry, this method will dramatically increase your vocabulary, your understanding about how grammar works, and even how to pronounce properly.

One advantage worth to note is that you'll also learn the X language. For example, I'm an Indonesian native speaker and I found this method beneficial for my english skill since it's really hard to find movie/series which available both in Indonesian and the Y language dub

#IBO2014

Hi folks! It's been a ridiculously long time since the last post. Well the point is that I promised a continuation of those posts (titled '2010-2011' yet even the story hasn't reach the end of 2010). But now, I find it's highly unlikely for me to continue writing about those years. Sorry guys, too less memories to write here(

Apparently another consciousness about how writing can improve your language skill brings me back here (yes, I'm talking about my rusty English)

The title stands for International Biology Olympiad, you can find more about it here. I took part on that event which held in Bali last month. No, not as young biology expert representing my country, but as a so-called volunteer instead :)

It was definitely one of best moments in my life, so I would be glad to share that experience in this blog. Here I'm going to write about my IBO 2014 experience in points of highlights instead of chronologically ordered narration as I used to write before

1.   So it all began ..

It started with my previous participation in such International Science Olympiad (IESO 2011) three years ago. It was a momentous event in my life (if not the most) for many reasons: first time going abroad, first time speaking in English a lot, first time getting an olympiad medal (as I told in previous post, the national stage turned out to be a 'zonk' failure for me hahah), meeting and interacting with many people from different countries, backgrounds of culture, and many many more.

I represented my country with other 3 fellow Indonesian students. So, 4 students are sent by each country and students of each country are guided by one student guide. We were guided throughout the event by a staff/volunteer named Francesca Bortoli. She was an awesome guide by the way, we Indonesians were lucky to be guided by her ^^ Taking part in the event, I could look how cool the duties of a student guide are. That's why I dreamed about being volunteer in such International Science Olympiad (ISO) someday.

Three years later, I found out that there would be an ISO going to be held in Bali which was IBO. And they said that an open recruitment for volunteers would be held. Calling back those unforgettable memories of IESO, I decided to apply when the registration began.

I was having an industrial internship in Prabumulih when the volunteer recruitment opened (and that internship was also one of best moments in my life), so I didn't do anything for registration until the registration was about to be closed :P I was required to fill the registration form and make introduction video about who I am and why I'm interested being a volunteer.

A couple of months later, they called me for an interview in Jakarta. And they announced the qualified volunteer sometime in May. I was lucky enough that my name was on the list.

2.    "This is Bali, dude!"

I flew to Bali at second of July and in fact, that was my first time flying to Bali. It actually was my third time visiting Bali which the previous visit happened just about 2 and half months before. Both previous visit was by bus+ferry.

The point is that it was such an honor for me that the organizer covers all of our expenses during our stay in Bali including the air travel ticket. Couldn't be more grateful for all of those ^^ actually when applying I thought that I had to cover the transportation to Bali by myself

We stayed at Aston Denpasar Hotel & Convention Center where most of the event took place. Being lodged in such posh accommodation, I find myself really lucky. We really enjoyed our stay there and although some people had problems regarding the meal, I'd like to say that the days of my stay there are best days of my culinary life hahaha

My flight back home turned out to be an excitement because I flew back home with Airbus A330, a widebody aircraft. Basically It's unusual for an airline to deploy a widebody aircraft for a domestic route. But since it was holiday and Jakarta-Bali is one of the busiest routes, it's quite common for a Jakarta-Bali flyer to find himself in widebody aircraft. Although I was hoping a Boeing 777 It's sure an excitement for me aviation geek like me who never flies domestic flight with widebody before :P

Well, there's no such international event without any excursion to interesting places around the venue. So, we had some excursions to several highlights in Bali. We went to a beach in Nusa Dua, Uluwatu temple, and Bali Safari & Marine Park. Although I had been to Uluwatu before, still, those excursions were really memorable for me.

And here I want to thank the Organizer and our Ministry of Education to make all of these possible. You have my gratitude for letting me have this chance :)

3   Guiding pibes argentinos

As a country guide whose responsibilities are to take care and to guide 4 participants from one country throughout the event, the organizer assigned me to be a country guide of Argentina. I don't know how exactly they decide who had to guide which country but perhaps I was assigned to guide Argentinian teams because at the interview I said that I know Spanish.

Well I can understand Spanish pretty well, but not Argentinian Spanish.

As a pluricentric language, Spanish language has different geographical varieties. They generally can understand each other but the differences sometimes can be extreme. Argentinians are known to speak with frequently dropping some phonemes (especially intervocalic -d- and final -s) which allows them to speak very fast. They also speak with distinct intonation (which said to be more similar to Italian than European Spanish) and different pronunciation of letters than other Spanish dialects (for example: 'yo me llamo' = /sho me shamo/)

That's not all. They use lots of vocabularies that other Spanish speaking people from other part of this world can't understand. Some words are famous to be 'Argentinian'. For example, 'vos sos' is their way to say 'you are' instead of  regular Spanish 'tú eres'

No, it's not that I don't like that lovely accent. Instead, now Argentinian accent is my favourite Spanish accent. Because thanks to them, I found myself easier to speak Spanish with Argentinian pronunciation (although it's not easy to be understood) because it sounds seamless, smooth-flowing, and pleasant :)

I spoke to them (and the other way round) mostly in English since I know English better than Spanish and they speak excellent English (I guess they speak English better than me hahaha). Even some other country guides envied me for guiding a team who speaks good English while theirs maybe doesn't.

Besides their languages, It's quite interesting to be guide of a country which is located further from Bali than any other participating countries there. They had to transit in Rio de Janeiro, Dubai, and Singapore before arriving to Bali. phew

The event was coinciding with FIFA World Cup where Argentina made to final round. Me and some guides asked Argentinian and Belgian teams to go out to bar with us to watch Argentina vs Belgium match and the match ended up in Argentina's victory ^^ Really, it was such a priceless moment to watch international football match with guys from competing countries :) (photo to be added soon)

It's absolutely an awesome experience to be their guide. I really proud that they were one of friendliest teams (if not the friendliest itself) that they got 'merriest team' award. Two of them were awarded with bronze medals and one of them with honorable mention. It's also interesting to learn some Argentinian words from them which are different from Spanish I had learnt before such as colectivo (bus), celular (mobile phone), computadora (computer), remera (T-shirt), che (hey), piola (cool), chamuyero, boludo, pelotudo (jajaja), etc.

4.   "Bis satu!"

Our event involved mass transport since there were hundreds of participants and we had to move from one venue to another. So, we were divided into 10 buses which 1 bus consisted of students from 6 countries, their guides, and a senior guide which took responsibility of a bus

Me with Argentinian students were in bus one since the countries are divided into buses alphabetically. Other teams in bus 1 were Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Belgium. We had real fun while waiting our bus to arrive in our destinations. Some of us were singing, playing, having international chat, making fun of each other, etc. It's really fascinating to be in a bus that consisted of people from 4 different continents.

Another bis 1 guides are with Mela (Australia's, from UI as I am), Ifa (Armenia's, from ITB), Mitha (Belgium's, from UNUD), Duta (Azerbaijan's, from UNSOED), Lilie (Belarus', from UGM), and of course our senior guide Charles from UNPAD. I really enjoyed working with you guys! ^^

5.   Cultural Experience

Being involved in multinational event at which participated students and juries from 61 countries exposed me to an international atmosphere. It allows me to meet, to have a chat, selfies, souvenir exchange, etc with people from various countries. Really exciting even for me as an introverted person

I could finally see and heard in person things (well mostly linguistic things :P) that I learned only from internet before. Such as differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese are, how to write my name in Armenian letters, similarity of Azeri and Turkish language, lack of Russian proficiency among people from some Post-Soviet states, linguistic diversity of Belgium, typical food and beverage from many countries, talking about my favorite Brazilian band with a Brazilian, and many other things that some of them might be considered racist if I write here

Also I've proven what my friend said here http://iamaboundary.tumblr.com/post/34027001915/little-note-lidah-orang-indonesia-dan-bahasa-asing about flexibility of Indonesian tongue. Some Spanish, Polish, and Romanian native speakers said that my pronunciation of those languages is perfect (although I know it's actually not that perfect)


6.   Vy otkuda?

As a language freak, one of the most exciting things about IBO 2014 is that I could hear a lots of foreign languages spoken there. That event was held on summer holiday (well not really summer actually as my country doesn't have 4-season climate) and my target for that holiday was to learn Russian as much as I could. And of course, IBO 2014 was a huge opportunity for me to learn and practice that extremely difficult language as all of post Soviet countries took part.

I frequently heard Russian being spoken during that event, even at one point I heard announcement in Russian when we were Bali Safari theater. And almost every time I heard that language is being spoken by groups of student, I excitedly approach them and ask "vy otkuda?" (where are you from) and then introduce myself, and so on. Actually, having Asian physical appearance and being able to speak Russian at the same time is absolutely not a strange thing. As tens of millions of Central Asian people are Russian-speaking. I even had been mistaken for being from Kazakhstan.

One interesting thing is that there were 3 CIS countries in our bus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus) out of 6 countries total. In addition, there is a student (not from CIS country) who learns Russian in school. So counting me in, almost half of the bus population knows Russian. And I felt really grateful being there since that was a huge opportunity for me to learn & practice Russian.

In short, IBO 2014 had been ignited my passion to learn Russian. It gives me more perspective about how extremely important that language is, since it is spoken by hundreds of millions people from Mongolia in East Asia (although it's not post-Soviet state, almost all Mongolians learn Russian in school) to Estonia in North Europe. It made me realized how still poor my Russian is and there are still many things to learn and improve. Fortunately, some of them are keen on to teach me. Like when I had to go to Nusa Dua to pick up my delegations. I was in the same car with juries from Uzbekistan. They were really excited knowing that I know Russian and then kindly engaged me in Russian conversation. They corrected my speech every time I made mistake. Similarly with some students in my bus especially Belarusian girls (they give me completely new perspective about their country which dubbed as last dictatorship in Europe). They even visited my room and we had Russian learning session there. We still have online conversation thus far, which is a chance for me to practice that lovely language